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January 13, 2009

Artifact identifies King Tut’s father

by Sam Savage

An Egyptian expert says an artifact has finally identified the father of famed King Tut as a previous pharaoh, King Akhenaten.

Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said a missing piece of a broken limestone block was found in a storeroom in el Ashmunein, 150 miles south of Cairo, that identifies King Tutankhamun as the son of King Akhenaten, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

Hawass said the artifact also suggests that Tutankhamun married his half sister, Ankhesenpaaton.

Emily Teeter of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago said it was not unusual for half-siblings to marry in ancient Egypt.